March 21, 2016

 

The main reason for the trip, other than we love to travel, was that traversing the Panama Canal had long been on Tom’s bucket list and today is the day!

The history of the Panama Canal is a fascinating story that took decades to write – from 1880 to 1914 to be exact. It was a massive undertaking with a huge loss of life (there are estimates that go from 5000 deaths to as high as 22,000 due to diseases such as yellow fever and malaria and to landslides and other job hazards) and amazing technical issues to overcome. So rather than trying to retell this story, I will give you a website dedicated to the Panama Canal – http://www.panamacanalfacts.com.

Our adventure started at 6:30AM, when a small boat brought the canal pilot to board the Westerdam.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We proceeded to the first set of locks arriving just before 8:00.

 

 

 

 

Before I go on, let me explain a bit about the Panama Canal. It was built to provide a deep channel connection between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Part of the dilemma in this process is that it is a looong channel and the oceans are basically different heights. So the locks act as an elevator raising a ship up by maneuvering it into a lock/elevator lift and pumping water into or out of the lock to raise or lower the ship to the next level.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the Caribbean side of the canal there is only one set of locks, the Gatun Locks which raise you up to the huge Gatun Lake in the middle of the canal.

We reached the Caribbean side of Lake Gatun around 9:45 and spent the next 4+ hours steaming across the lake to the next set of locks – the Pedro Miguel Locks.  These and the Miraflores Locks would stair step us down to the Pacific Ocean side of the canal.

 

We exited the last set of locks around 4:30pm and bid a fond farewell to the Panama Canal.

 

 

And toward the Bridge of the Americas and the Panama Bay.